Workers' comp deadlines in West Virginia: tell your employer and file

Tell your employer in West Virginia

Counted from

The date of the injury

If you are late

There is no separate state deadline for telling your employer, but if the claim application is not filed within 6 months after the injury, the right to compensation is forever barred.

Illness that develops over time

For an occupational disease (other than occupational pneumoconiosis), the application must be filed within 3 years after the last exposure to the hazard or within 3 years after a doctor told you about the disease (or you reasonably should have known), whichever is later.

Tell your employer about the injury right away. The filing that protects your claim is the claim application (the Employees' and Physician's Report of Occupational Injury or Disease), which you fill out and sign with the doctor who first treats you; it must be filed with your employer's insurance carrier or self-insured employer (or the Insurance Commissioner, whichever applies) within 6 months after the injury.

Law: W. Va. Code § 23-4-15

Source: code.wvlegislature.gov

File your claim in West Virginia

Time limit

6 months

Counted from

The date of the injury

What to file

Employees' and Physician's Report of Occupational Injury or Disease, filed with your employer's private insurance carrier or self-insured employer (or with the Insurance Commissioner, whichever applies)

Source: the claim application

Claim form

Employees' and Physician's Report of Occupational Injury or Disease

Who files it

You fill out and sign Section I (employee's claim information) and the doctor who first treats you completes Section II. The report is filed with your employer's insurance carrier or self-insured employer, which gives the claim a number and assigns an adjuster.

What your employer must do

Your employer must post a notice at the workplace with the name, address and phone number of its workers' compensation insurer and the person to contact about a claim.

When the insurer decides

The carrier or self-insured employer reviews the claim and sends you a written decision saying whether it is approved or denied and what conditions are covered. It may conditionally approve the claim while it gets more evidence, and benefits are paid during the conditional approval. If you have not heard from the carrier within 14 days of filing your claim, contact it directly.

Illness that develops over time

Occupational disease (other than occupational pneumoconiosis): within 3 years after the last exposure or after the disease was made known to you by a doctor (or you should reasonably have known), whichever is later. Occupational pneumoconiosis: within 3 years after the last 60-day period of exposure or after a diagnosed impairment was made known to you.

To get benefits, your claim application must be filed on the form prescribed by the Insurance Commissioner with the Insurance Commissioner, your employer's private carrier or the self-insured employer, whichever applies, within 6 months after the injury. If it is not filed within 6 months, the right to compensation is forever barred. If you are mentally or physically unable to file, your attorney or a family member may file for you.

Law: W. Va. Code § 23-4-15(a)-(c)

Source: code.wvlegislature.gov

Law: W. Va. Code §§ 23-2C-15, 23-4-1c, 23-5-1a

Source: wvinsurance.gov

Waiting period and first payment in West Virginia

Waiting period

No temporary total disability is paid if the disability does not last longer than 3 days from the day you leave work because of the injury. Your treating doctor must certify on the proper forms that you are unable to work.

Paid back for the waiting days

If your disability lasts longer than 7 days from the day you leave work, you are also paid for the first 3 days.

Law: W. Va. Code § 23-4-5

Source: code.wvlegislature.gov

Deadline helper

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